Inland Empire reacts to Nelson Mandela’s death

FILE - In this Wednesday, July 18, 2012 file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela as he celebrates his 94th birthday with family in Qunu, South Africa. It was reported on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 that the family of ailing former South African President Nelson Mandela has told the South African Broadcasting Corporation in an interview that the liberation struggle icon is not "doing well" but is continuing to put up a courageous fight from his "deathbed." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)

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Although he died in Johannesburg, 10,000 miles away from Southern California, the late South African icon Nelson Mandela made a difference in the Inland Empire and across the world, local experts say.

“His story is inspirational on multiple levels,” said Renford Reese, a professor of political science at Cal Poly Pomona. “I think his greatest achievement is his commitment to reconciliation. He spent 27 years in prison, and when he came out he came out a better man, not a bitter man.”

Many pointed to Mandela’s willingness to forgive, both immediately after being released from prison and during his time as president.

“Nelson Mandela was a leader whose message of peace and dialogue advanced the cause for human rights and equality in his native South Africa and many nations across the globe,” Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, said Thursday in a written statement. “Nelson Mandela’s passing is a loss to the world. May the memory of his life continue to inspire us all.”

Mandela’s leadership in pushing for a non-violent transition from apartheid to a truer democracy in South Africa — including the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission — was key, many said.

“Certainly South Africa has its issues, and its struggles, but it’s a new country,” said Toni Humber, a professor of ethnic and women studies at Cal Poly Pomona.

Mandela and former South African president F. W. de Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa,” the Nobel Prize committee wrote.

“I think for the 20th and 21st centuries, I think he’s the world’s greatest leader,” Reese said, ahead of even Martin Luther King, Jr. and other widely admired leaders. “(Mahatma) Ghandi was a symbolic figure, but he didn’t lead the government.”

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And Mandela’s example also serves as a challenge for today’s activists.

“The question becomes: Am I doing enough?” said A. Majadi, vice-president of the San Bernardino chapter of the NAACP. “Today, we have far more to work with and have accomplished far less than those who came before. Nelson Mandela laid out the road map: There is no shortcut to change.”